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Cast: Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Derek Jacobi, Moritz Bleibtreu, Ayelet July Zurer
"Adam Resurrected" follows the story of Adam Stein, a charismatic patient at a mental institution for Holocaust survivors in Israel, 1961. He reads minds and confounds his doctors, lead by Nathan Gross. Before the war, in Berlin, Adam was an entertainer--cabaret impresario, circus owner, magician, musician--loved by audiences and Nazis alike until he finds himself in a concentration camp, confronted by Commandant Klein. Adam survives the camp by becoming the Commandant's "dog", entertaining him while his wife and daughter are sent off to die. Years later we find him at the Institute. One day, Adam smells something, hears a sound. "Who brought a dog in here?" he asks Gross. Gross denies there is a dog but Adam finds him--a young boy raised in a basement on a chain. Adam and the boy see and recognize each other as dogs--and their journey begins. "Adam Resurrected" is the story of a man who once was a dog who meets a dog who once was a boy.
I have always liked Jeff Goldblum as an actor but I must admit there are several actors in the movie business that seem to play themselves in almost every role they have and Jeff is one of those, but as Adam you get to see him in possibly his best performance to date. Jeff does a terrific job playing this poor,tormented soul. As far as war movies go you are not going to find people being killed in this one, this is more a psychological drama. A tragedy mixed with some dark humor along the way, Adam is more a Art house film than it is a mainstream film but the cast makes it work and work well. Adam is a German-Jewish Holocaust survivor and his struggle to cope with his traumata in a psycho-therapeutic clinic in Israel. While in SS-officer made him live and behave like a dog and it is only when another dog-like being arrives in the clinic that Stein finds a way to escape his manic world of excess. Willem Dafoe plays the SS-Officer and gives another brilliant performance, But this film clearly belongs to Mr. Goldblum, he gives one of the best performances of 2008 and it is sad that he was not looked at when Oscar time came around also it is too bad that many out there never got the chance to see this when it was in theaters. This is not an easy film to watch, the subject matter isn't pretty at all but once the film begins you are taken in and you can never look away. To me I think the film is about guilt over surviving while others you may have loved did not. This is certainly something many of us can relate to as losing someone dear is never an easy thing to cope with. Adam Resurrected is a dark yet beautiful and powerful film that effects your thinking long after it is over and when a piece of cinema does that to an audience there must be something special about it. If you want to see something different yet thought-provoking and captivating then I highly recommend picking this up today. This is one of those gems that only comes along once in awhile so don't miss out seeing it. The DVD comes with Special Features that include
Audio Commentary with Director Paul Schrader
Behind The Scenes: Deleted Scenes
Haifa International Film Festival Q&A
Trailer
Released by Image Entertainment. ***** Out Of *****